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View Poll Results: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

Originally Posted by OscarB63

yeah, being under the iron fist of a dictator makes for a very "stable" environment

Not to agree with Catawba, but actually, dictatorships are rather stable countries, in the purest sense of the word. Things run relatively smooth and crimes rates are ridiculously low because of the fear of reprisal from government. In other words, everyone is scared ****less to the point that everything goes just how the federal government wants and everything is seemingly hunky dory.

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

Originally Posted by Lightning

Not to agree with Catawba, but actually, dictatorships are rather stable countries, in the purest sense of the word. Things run relatively smooth and crimes rates are ridiculously low because of the fear of reprisal from government. In other words, everyone is scared ****less to the point that everything goes just how the federal government wants and everything is seemingly hunky dory.

which was my point. "stability" should not be the most important measure. Nazi Germany was a very "stable" environment under Hitler.

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

um yeah, we didn't "install" anything. we allowed them to decide for themselves. not our fault they voted for corrupt politicians (as if there were any other kind)

What was the invasion and almost ten years of occupation for than?

just saying..."stability" isn't the be all end all. I'm sure all those Iraqis that were tortured and murdered in Saddam's "perfume palace" and then dumped in "Lost Lake" were really impressed by the stability of Saddam's govt

The Iraqis are being tortured now by the government we help set up and protected for almost ten years. But hey, the Iraqis have the freedom to kill each other now in addition to being tortured! Oh happy day!

Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. ~ Ancient American Indian Proverb

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

Originally Posted by Catawba

What was the invasion and almost ten years of occupation for than?

so we could steal all the oil, or have you forgotten that?

The Iraqis are being tortured now by the government we help set up and protected for almost ten years. But hey, the Iraqis have the freedom to kill each other now in addition to being tortured! Oh happy day!

Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children. ~ Ancient American Indian Proverb

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

We didn't remove them, Iraq kicked them out when they nationalized their oil. But thanks to our invasion and occupation, US and British oil companies are back in Iraq.

Mission Accomplished!

Sorry for making my post worded realz stoopidz. What I meant by "removing our oil companies", I meant that the Iraqis removed them. I imagine the semantical meaning of my sentence was far off from what I thought it meant, and for that, I apologize. Perhaps, some day, I could send a small present to you?

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

every dollar spent in Iraq was a dollar wasted.

Saddam was such a great leader that his govt spent nothing to update/upgrade their refineries. all the oil refineries in Iraq burn off tons of methane because the technology to capture it didn't exist when they were built. as a result, methane (aka natural gas) is a major IMPORT into Iraq. and yet they are burning off tons of the stuff from their outdated refineries.

Re: Is the world a better place without Saddam Hussein?

IMO, as I have said before, Iraq was far better off between the end of the Kurdish Uprising and Iraqi Freedom then it has been since Iraqi Freedom.

As to the OP question?

That is impossible to answer since there is no way to know what would have happened to Iraq had Op. Iraqi Freedom never taken place.

One could speculate - which I did before.

But on hindsight, there are too many variables and too much time has passed to (IMO) make worthwhile answer to the OP question.

I was in Iraq during both Desert Storm and OIF/OEF. One of the sad things is that, although he had the resources to build dozens of palaces for himself and his cronies, Saddam spent very little on rebuilding infrastructure that was damaged/destroyed during the Iran/Iraq war and Desert Storm. Much of southern Iraq looks just as it did immediately following the Iran/Iraq war. rusted out vehicles on the side of the road, rivers filled with sunken ships, bombed out villages, etc, etc, etc.